Mark Winterbottom not only won the biggest motor race in Australia, he did it after an intense duel with his arch-rival Jamie Whincup. It was the first win for the Ford Performance Racing team and came just a day after Ford extended its deal to support the team next year.

Mark Winterbottom and Steve Richards. Photo: Getty Images

Partnering Steven Richards, Winterbottom led home the Holden Whincup shared with Paul Dumbrell, leaving Craig Lowndes and Warren Luff to claim third in their Holden.

Winterbottom and Whincup were bumper to bumper for more than 60 laps, rarely separated by more than a second.

The two have been inseparable throughout their careers. They fought hard in go-karts and Formula Ford on their way to V8 Supercars. But since they made it to the top of the sport, Whincup has had the upper hand. He's won four titles and four Bathurst 1000 trophies.

But that is not a true reflection of the closeness of the pair. They are the two stand-out talents of their generation, and fittingly one represents Holden and the other Ford.

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Indeed, Whincup's Triple Eight Racing outfit and Winterbottom's FPR have been the two stand-out teams in the series over the past few seasons, and Triple Eight have shared in Whincup's success while FPR's major trophy cabinet has been bare.

But that has changed.

"To win Bathurst is amazing but to do it with Ford, to do it after the announcement yesterday, to do it with FPR, to do it with Richo - if I could ever ask to win Bathurst in any scenario it's exactly what happened today,'' Winterbottom said.

"To see the Ford fans cheering your name. I've never been more pumped in my life.''

The 32-year-old from Doonside has had to do things the hard way throughout his career. He came from a family with limited means and was helped into V8 Supercars thanks to a Ford-funded scholarship.

But he repaid the faith Ford showed in him and all those years of graft as a kid from Sydney's west paid off. To win at Bathurst is special, but to win in such an intense fight makes it even more so.

"It does because the nerves are all there at the end of the race,'' he said. "You know you're not streaking away and know that you've got it with 20 laps to go. There was no point in that race until the last lap at turn two that I knew I had the win.''

As strange as it may sound for a driver who's won 23 V8 Supercar races, Winterbottom hopes this one proves he's a serious racer.

"I didn't want to be that guy that won a lot of races and was fast but never won Bathurst or the championship,'' he said. "So to actually do it takes a big monkey off the back and we can focus on winning the championship.''

Whincup was full of praise for his Ford rivals. "We gave it all we had,'' he said. "I hate losing but I didn't mind today not winning because car No. 5 did a great job.''

In the opening stages of the race a fifth Whincup win (and a second for co-driver Dumbrell) looked inevitable. The pair were the class of the field, Dumbrell started the race and opened a half-minute gap on the field, which Whincup maintained.

But as the day wore on and the circuit was lashed with wind, the pair's Triple Eight Holden fell away in the middle of the race.

"It was very fast at the start of the day, which unfortunately is not when the chequered flag is,'' Whincup managed to joke.

Whincup has earned a deserved reputation for winning races that looked lost and at no stage during the final 40 laps could you ever count him out, but Winterbottom held him off.

"I thought I may as well have a crack, that's what Bathurst is all about,'' Whincup said.

"I'm happy I had a go and I'm happy we both played it with a straight bat.''

For Lowndes and Luff, it was third for the second year in a row. Despite not looking threatening for most of the race, in typical style Lowndes rose to the occasion as the laps counted down.

He entered into a thrilling four-way fight for the final podium spot with Jason Bright (Holden), Garth Tander (Holden) and David Reynolds (Ford).

In the end Lowndes' wily experience paid off and he waited patiently as Bright and Tander tangled to sneak through and secure yet another podium finish at Bathurst.

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